NVIDIA’s Shield 4K Android TV console now available

The highly anticipated NVIDIA Shield Console is finally available for purchase and is the first Android TV device to give the Fire TV some real competition. NVIDIA claims the device’s Tegra X1 processor is 8 times more powerful than the one in the Fire TV. It also comes with 3GB of RAM, one upping the Fire TV’s 2 GB. The base model comes with 16GB of internal memory, twice as much as the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. If that isn’t enough, however, NVIDIA will be releasing a 500GB “Pro” model in a couple weeks. The base console’s $199 price may seem steep at twice the price of the Fire TV, but remember that the Nvidia Shield comes with a highly reviewed game controller that retails for $60 on its own. The 500GB model will run you an additional $100. Amazon is currently offering a $30 Google Play credit and 3 months of unlimited Google Play music with every purchase.

13 comments

Meh, as impressive as the specs are, it’s still going to be limited as a gaming device, at least in the eyes of most hardcore gamers. And then there’s the most important issue regarding devices of this sort, the apps. Will it have Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Go, etc., etc.? It took Fire TV months to mature as a streaming device, and that was with a big corporation with bottomless resources and the will to improve the device behind it, and it’s still a work in progress. Look at how Sony’s attempt to break this marlet has failed.

NVIDIA is a great company, and if they were introducing a full blown video game console to compete directly with the PS4 and X1 I’d be pumped. However, so much of the success of a streaming device extends beyond mere hardware specs. You need companies like HBO, Netflix, Amazon, and dozens of others to support your device and make apps for them. As we’ve seen with Fire TV over its first year of existence, sometimes that’s easier said than done.

A lot of the major apps are already produced for Nvidia chips so app support is not gonna be a problem. As a matter of fact there are several apps that will only work on Nvidia devices. I still don’t see this deviice being huge though. It has been very hard for any android TV device to be a huge success. In reality the Fire TV is probably the first major Android TV box ever. It has sold well, everyone knows about it and it has set itself up as a competitor to the Apple TV and the Roku. Thats not saying much though, cause none of these boxes have been able to compete with the Apple TV 2 or the Apple TV 3 on any level. Not one Android TV device has came anywhere near the sales or widespread use of the Apple TV and thats the only two catagories that matter in the set top box world. People could sit here for days and name Android TV devices and Apple has probably outsold them all combined with their boring Apple TV. I am beginning to think Apple could fart in a jar and call it “iFart” and sell 200 million jars. Its a bad time for anyone to be putting out any set top box with the rumors of a new Apple TV coming soon. They sold 4 million Apple TV 3s the month they came out and had already sold over 20 million of them by last summer, nobody making Android TV boxes can compete with that, and sales of Android TV boxes will go way down when the new Apple TV is released. They probably would’ve sold 50 million if it could’ve been jailbroken. So I predict the new Nvidia shield will be a failure, but I am not sure what a failure is in terms of Android TV boxes. Not many have sold more than a million units so anything over a million sales is a success for Android TV devices, and I do not see Nvidia selling a million shields. I hope they do sell over a million, cause the more devices that fail means the more companies lose interest in set top boxes.

If it is limited with games it doesn’t have to stay that way! And with their streaming service grid this look very promising. And…i imagine this will be easily rooted, which is another plus in comparison to the fire tv

Almost no one has 4k TV’s. We are far beyond the point where specs will sell anything. Content is what matters. The Fire TV has content, the Apple TV and Roku both have content. All three are priced competitively. The Shield won’t last very long at all. It doesn’t seem to have a reason to exist.

You must not understand the exchange rate, cause 199 euro will basically even out when you add in the cost of shipping the device to Europe. $199 is around 182 euro, so its not that big of a deal.

I am glad Nvidia did not call this a gaming console like some other Android TV makers do, cause Android is simply not a gaming platform. Although this is the one device that could turn in to somewhat of a gaming console cause Nvidia has been converting several PC games to work on the Shield that they are getting ready to release for the shield.

I still hate how all these companies are still selling storage upgrades for $100, at least its more than 16gb they are selling for $100 though. $100 storage upgrades is the biggest ripoff when it comes to electronic devices. I am not sure how Apple and Android device makers have been able to get by for so long selling their 16gb upgrades of storage for $100. It would be nice if they would start giving 496gb upgrades for $100 like Nvidia is doing with the shield, cause i think we all know the 16gb upgrades in cellphones is worth about $10 at most.

Isn’t part of this due to 20% VAT? That doesn’t account for all of the difference of course. Maybe duties? The whole currency exchange thing is very strange. It’s not obvious to me at least what money means anymore.

With the price also keep in mind that the remote is an additional $50 which may matter if you mainly plan to use it as a media streamer. It’s the opposite of the fire tv which includes the remote but costs extra for the controller.

I’m hoping the release of this will push amazon to get more games certified for fire tv. There are plenty of games that have controller support of some kind and aren’t too graphically intensive for fire tv that could be on it.

While this doesn’t look like something I would be interested in now, especially since I’ve had an Ouya and now Fire TV, it does like like it has more of a chance to be successful than any other android set top boxes I’ve seen. Most streamers have gone for the $100 or around that price point and this one is breaking new ground by going for more premium specs and price point. Initial reviews seem positive for it’s capabilities but most still aren’t crazy about the android tv platform. If they get exclusive new games for this instead of pushing mostly last gen console and pc games on this it could define itself as a real game console in it’s own right. The cloud and in home streaming options could also attract pc and console gamers to this.

I prefer indie games and most of the ones on this are also on fire tv. Plus as a streamer it doesn’t look as versatile as fire tv or roku yet and I don’t have a 4k tv so that feature doesn’t mean anything to me. Could be good for Kodi but at $250 with a remote it’s pretty pricey and I’m happy enough with Kodi on fire tv. So it’s not for me at this time but does stand out from the crowd and is something to keep an eye on.